Self containment

This page describes a concept which is part of our glossary

Self-containment is one of the values of OrganicDesign (the Platform specification includes a process of alignment with it). It allows Platforms to produce seeds for easy deployment or to split into two or more separate Platforms. Self-containment means that every part of the system is clearly specified and can change through self governance allowing all aspects to be changeable.

Philosophical aspects of Self Containment

For the project to be a model of reality whether in terms of the physical universe, consciousness or anything, it can't be dependent on anything outside itself. In other words, every complete model no matter what approach is taken must be completely self-contained. But how can something which needs to be expressed in symbolic logic be self-contained when it relies on the very logical system in which it's described?

The way self-containment works for the definition of the root node is that since the distributed space that emerges is able to model and execute processes within, it contains a description of itself in its own terms. Many modern programming language interpreters and compilers are constructed from their own language, for example C compilers are programmed in C.

This aspect goes one level deeper; the process-executing environment within is also complimented by an interface. Every processing environment has to have some kind of interface, whether its a list of parameters, or an application form, otherwise potential processing will never actualise. Because the processing environment's content is a working model of itself, it stands to reason that the interface will be fundamentally designed to compliment this content. That is, an environment offering tools for developing, collaborating, and analysing this self-description and its performance in the field.

Of course, one of the most important things about such an environment is the accessibility of the concepts its describing. This is why the projects philosophy is for the foundation "terms" of this self-description are our terms - ie the terms of everyday organisation. Such an environment allows all aspects of itself to undergo evolution through the collaboration and expertise of the many - that's why the wiki has helped the project so much.

Eventually, we hope to use the faster dynamic interfaces such as C++/3DState, PERL/SDL and Python/Blender to allow the rendering of organisations in a full 3D world like Quake and other 3D games. This will allow the networks concepts to be completely described in our human terms; the terms of people and organisations.

The global information of performance and knowledge of itself is also available in terms of our human reality. It's fundamentally designed to analyse it's own performance as a role in the organisations its working with; our organisations. That is, it's maintaining a subjective view of itself in our world. In our human terms, this view through self-containment is consciousness. Each node extends or subclasses this generic subjective view of "self through the eyes of the whole", and refines it according to its local needs and goals; ie every node is ultimately based on the root-class of self-containment, consciousness or duality etc (depending on what context we refer to it within).

As this description evolves and becomes more efficient and better integrated with the various symbolic languages and technologies, the actual instances of the description recompile. The physical software running on the computers allowing them to form a part of the whole is always just a reflection of its own true definition within. That way the programming outside the network is not anything other than what's contained within its self. The only thing which it depends upon from outside itself is energy, the ability to change. There's nothing outside it, all space-time and matter is within, but somehow that indeterminate nothing outside is the original source of all change. Or more precisely, the entire space-time as an undivided whole is no-thing, and is that source of all change.

Having the axiom, or root of Node in the network is not saying that our ultimate Source is simply this definition, it's saying that organising material with the proper harmonic structure in a space-time built on this axiom allows the Source (unity) to manifest within as consciousness (duality). The Source itself always remains absolutely infinite, eternal and unknowable, even though there are some things we can imply about it; that is occupies exactly zero bits of information, that it exhibits self-containment, it's at the centre and root of every being, and that it's the source of all energy and change. All duality undergoes change due to the universal tendency for difference to reduce, called entropy. And all duality undergoes change against the background of that which does not change; Unity, the undivided whole which exhibits no difference.

All of us exist in an environment of potential and entropy. Potential comes from the fact that all structure will reduce over time, but to be the true compliment of entropy it must also be an active process. As a process it is creative decision, coming from the seeing the self within the whole; mind.

In our world, the Whole goes by many names; Unity, The Source, God, the Creator, awareness, etc. In the Network it is Root objectively (from the perspective of outside the whole), and Self subjectively (from the perspective of a Node within the whole). Within the context of our own being, it is our I-am-ness (chapter 1 and chapter 85 of I am that are specifically related to I am).

Program Self Containment

The core (reduction-core, network and interface) needs to be self-contained (defined in its own terms) so that the project evolves from its own tools and can progress exponentially due to the reduced need for specialists. It needs to be self-maintaining, so that any given part should be able to be versioned, updated and if necessary compiled from within itself.

In our human terms, self-containment is consciousness. Each node extends or subclasses this generic subjective view of "self through the eyes of the whole", and refines it according to its local needs and goals: every node is ultimately based on the root-class of self-containment. That way the programming outside the network is not anything other than what is contained within itself. The only thing that it depends upon from outside itself is energy, the ability to change.

By organising material with the proper harmonic structure in a space-time built on the axiom of self-containment, we allow unity to manifest within as duality. All duality undergoes change due to the universal tendency for difference to reduce, called entropy. Moreover, all duality undergoes change against the background of that which does not change. Potential comes from the fact that all structure will reduce over time, but to be the true compliment of entropy it must also be an active process.

• Squeak - a self-contained programming language
• Self-interpreter - interpreters written in their own language

How it works

Self-containment works for the definition of the node because since the distributed space that emerges is able to model and execute processes within, it contains a description of itself in its own terms.

This aspect goes one level deeper; every process-executing environment has to have some kind of interface, whether it is a list of parameters, or an application form. Because the processing environment's content is a working model of itself, it stands to reason that the interface offers tools for developing, collaborating, and analysing this self-description and its performance in the field.

External Dependencies

Clearly however, though the core is independent, there are still other dependencies which are currently external, partly to ease development, partly to ease interaction with the outside environment. These include: Linux kernel, C compiler, Frame-buffer, Media rendering and codec support, scanner and printer support. The network can integrate with these as if they were internal, offering a distributed load-balancing solution for the centralised projects involved, see Borgification for more information about this aspect.

The faster dynamic interfaces such as SDL, Blender, DirectX etc will allow the rendering of organisations in a full 3D world like Quake and other 3D games. This will allow the networks concepts to be completely described in our human terms: the terms of people and organisations.

Integrating components such as the Linux kernel and a C compiler would be achieved by creating "protocol wrappers" for environments like SourceForge, to allow integration with the online development community, see Borgification for more details about this process.

One of the essencial qualities of our project is the ability for it to maintain itself. Any given part should be able to be versioned, updated and if necessary compiled, from within itself.

Hardware Self Containment

Organisations within the network for manufacturing chips, PCB's etc for a fully independent source of computer and network hardware.

• RepRap is a self-replicating machine designed to be low cost and usable from the bottom up.

See also

• Independence
• Values
• Seed
• Deployment
• Manifesto
• Charter